Interactive Music Map Showcases the Most Sung-About Places in the World

New York City has inspired many a musician, from Frank Sinatra to Stevie Wonder to Alicia Keys. So it probably won’t come as a surprise that the “city that never sleeps” is the most sung-about place on the planet, with more than 160 songs mentioning it by name, according to an analysis of 200,000 popular songs from Celebrity Cruises.

This only accounts for songs that have landed in one of the top 40 spots on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 or UK Official Singles chart since 1960. Celebrity Cruises took the lyrics of those songs and conducted a linguistics analysis and data visualization to pinpoint the cities, neighborhoods, and states that feature most prominently in music. They ended up with 2000 songs by 896 artists who sang about 420 different places around the world.

An interactive tool called Music Mapped lets you explore these inspiring destinations. After New York, London is the second most-sung-about place with 101 songs, followed by Los Angeles (87 songs), the state of California (67 songs), and Hollywood (66 songs). You can also browse by genre and decade, so in case you’ve been dying to know how many ‘80s country/folk songs have been written about Nova Scotia, the answer is one ("Letter From America" by The Proclaimers).

You can also search by place, artist, or country. Of all the artists included in this analysis, Drake is the one who has name-dropped the most places in his lyrics. So far, he’s rapped about 29 places, including his hometown of Toronto and farther-flung destinations like Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Jay-Z has rapped about 27 places, followed by Elvis (who sang about 23 places), Tinie Tempah (22 places), and The Beach Boys (22 places).

Spotify Is Giving Premium Customers Free Hulu

It's hard to keep track of all the streaming services available today, but paying for two of them just got a lot easier. As The Verge reports, a free Hulu plan now comes with a Spotify Premium subscription.

Spotify Premium costs $10 a month, and it includes unlimited ad-free access to the 35 million-plus songs in the service's library, as well as the ability to save music and play it offline. Beginning today, March 12, you can bundle Spotify Premium with Hulu's basic ad-supported plan for $10 a month, which means if you were already paying for Spotify, you're basically getting Hulu for free. Without the deal, Hulu's cheapest plan normally costs $6 a month to stream unlimited shows and movies with ad breaks.

If you're already subscribed to Spotify Premium, you can add Hulu to the same bill from the Your Services page on Spotify. New members can sign up for both plans at once by visiting Spotify.com/hulu and entering their payment information. The promotion is not open to users on a Spotify Premium family account.

The special offer is only available until June 10, 2019, or "while supplies last," according to Spotify. After signing up, you can take your shiny new subscription for a spin with a binge-watching session. Here are some of the best shows and movies to stream.

This Colorful Art Poster Chronicles the History of the Beatles

As far as music history—or history in general—is concerned, The Beatles are one of the most influential musical groups ever assembled. The venerable English rock band may have had its heyday in the 1960s, but the impact John, Paul, George, and Ringo have had on generations of fans and musicians can't possibly be overstated. As music journalist Chuck Klosterman once wrote about the accuracy of rating bands, "The Beatles are generally seen as the single most important rock band of all time, because they wrote all the best songs. Since both of these facts are true, the Beatles are rated properly."

But simply appreciating the Fab Four's archive aurally doesn't do the band enough justice. Thankfully this poster from UK-based design shop Dorothy Studios has the visuals covered. With an appropriately diverse color palette, "The Colour of The Beatles—Special Edition" features 66 color-inspired references to many of the songs in the legendary group's discography, including "Here Comes the Sun" and "Blackbird."

Dorothy

However, the poster doesn't focus exclusively on The Beatles's songs; it also includes their albums (like The White Album), their favorite hangouts (like The Cavern Club and The Casbah Coffee Club), and even their Apple record label. And, of course, kaleidoscopic songs like "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Back in the U.S.S.R.," and "Norwegian Wood" are covered.

Phil Skegg, a designer at Dorothy, says the genesis of the poster came a few years ago when the team was looking at standard paint swatch colors, like Canary Yellow. "We thought it'd be great if they had a range named after songs like 'Yellow Submarine' or 'Sun King'," Skegg tells Mental Floss. "It then just developed from there, taking in songs, albums lyrics, and any other sources we could find."

Dorothy

The poster, which sells for about $38, is also just one of several Beatles-inspired posters from Dorothy; they also offer zoo-themed character portraits and this pair of "Liverpool Legends" road sign prints. And they say you can't buy me love.